Parallel Sonic 06
by PhiSat
Summary: Sonic the Hedgehog 06 was a bomb, both in gameplay and story. However, the potential was definitely there in terms of the story. So, here is Sonic the Hedgehog 06, my retelling. 75-80% accurate, 20-25% changed. 3 OCs and some shipping.
1. Part 1, Hedgehog Intro

_Crisis City, Date Unknown_

The sky had always been dark, a terrible contrast with the roads, which were the bright red-orange of magma. Buildings and bridges rose from the flames, all that remained of the prosperous civilization destroyed only two hundred years previously.

If any were left to hear, they would hear a voice, last of his kind, tell the mournful tale of his ignorance of the world's destruction.

"This world… …was devastated before I was born. Before anyone I've ever known was born. It's a harsh, bleak place where I live in the midst of darkness and pain. Life has always been a struggle, and all have lost hope… and paid. I'm all that's left of the people who once lived here in millions… How did this happen? Whenever I asked, my parents would not answer me directly… But they always pointed to the flames."

A grey hedgehog flew over the ruins, a teal aura surrounding him.

"These flames burn away at my world, destroying everything in their path. My parents always said they came from something they, nor anyone else, had ever seen for themselves. Someone, or something, known only as the Flames of Disaster, Iblis…"

He spoke for the sake of remembering words, patterns, the people and things that used to matter. He tried harder to remember the right words; it had been so long since he had anyone to talk to…

"My parents… My mother disappeared, long ago, taken by the flames, my father went to find Iblis, and never returned…

And then she came..."

A picture formed in the hedgehog's mind. A lilac cat, with a sharp tongue and a spirit of fire.

Blaze.

"She came, just as my parents disappeared. I still don't know if she was real or not. She taught me how to survive, how to fight, and then one day, she just left…"

The hedgehog suddenly was overcome with despair. He flew to a building and sat down, staring at the lava below. He remembered the sad look she had given him when she saw him last, the way she ran, not looking back…

A pillar of flame suddenly rose up in front of the hedgehog, knocking him back and singing the mane-like fur on his chest.

The hedgehog got up, the tears that had filled his yellow eyes gone in an instant. "Get… LOST!" He screamed, sending a teal bolt of energy straight at the flame. The flame billowed higher, as if in defiance, before deteriorating into harmless ashes.

"H-h-help!"

The hedgehog stopped in his tracks.

Someone else? He had searched his whole life and never found anyone but Blaze…

Then what the voice had yelled registered.

"Don't worry! I'm coming!" He called, while his gloves' teal markings began to glow and he began to fly towards the scream's general direction faster than a bat out of hell.

Master of telekinesis.

His name was Silver.

_White Acropolis, September 26, 2011_

White Acropolis.

At this time of year, the proud mountain overlooking Soleanna Bay was wreathed in clouds, adding to its mystique. The first snows had already fallen, a good two inches, and more snow continued to fall.

Perfectly disguising a robotic head, lying a few metres from its body, attempting to sound an alarm before its power source drained and it was silenced forever.

It failed.

The intruder was long gone.

A black and red hedgehog's rocket skates cut cleanly through the snow, past a sharp turn through the trees and into another squadron of robots, this time being of a headless variety with long, frail limbs, nasty guns, and bad aim.

This bunch did not have the luxury of being ripped to pieces. Instead, a round of Chaos Spears did them in while the hedgehog skated through, almost completely ignoring them, focusing on finding the entrance to the base the robots were guarding.

That is, until a bullet clipped his arm. "Shit!" He cursed, and spotting the culprit, decided this one would suffer.

It was near the wall too. What luck.

The hedgehog skated towards the robot, ignoring the volleys of bullets slowly getting closer to hitting their target. He quickly curled into a ball and jumped, before unrolling and dealing a deadly rocket-powered kick to the robot's chest. Then, quickly, before the robot collapsed, he activated his rocket shoes to full power, launching himself up and over the wall right before a massive explosion destroyed the rest of the robot sentinels.

Easy.

The hedgehog quickly took cover in between two barrels as a searchlight beamed from overhead. Stealth was the best option at the moment.

"Transmission from HQ. Come in, Agent 2184."

"May I remind you, Commander, that I am no longer your agent? If it wasn't for the President's request…"

"Of, course, of course." They called the commander fearless, but not even he would cut off the hedgehog unless the situation was messy. The hedgehog stopped talking.

"There's an SOS coming from Dr. Eggman's base. Something must have gone wrong with mission 843. We haven't had solid contact with Agent 1916 since yesterday. The President expects an immediate rescue, Shadow."

The hedgehog paused. Rouge wouldn't SOS unless she had to… And wouldn't take to another rescue very kindly, especially since…

"Agent 2814? Do you copy?"

"Understood. Sit tight, I'll rescue Agent Rouge." Shadow slapped his communicator, ending the transmission. He knew the Commander would have liked to say something else, but he really didn't care.

Waiting for the searchlight to pass once again, he took out a yellow crystalline gem. A fake Chaos Emerald. So many memories… He thought, before returning to the task at hand. It had served him well over time, but it would allow him to use Chaos Control only once more.

"So this is goodbye then." He said to the Chaos Emerald. "Chaos… CONTROL!"

There was no longer anyone in between the two barrels.

Master of Chaos.

His name was Shadow.

_Soleanna Castle Town, September 26, 2011_

"This is complete shit."

"Keep your voice down, smile, and wave."

The sky lit up as another firework left its glittery impression. Tonight, no one in the city slept. All were standing as close as they possibly could get to the canals without falling in, for tonight was the closing procession of the Festival of the Sun, the most spectacular part, the night where Princess Elise would light the fires of heaven in worship of the great god Solaris.

The Princess in question stood on a lavish boat being rowed down the city's main canal, waving and attempting to look like a complete airhead, while in reality feeling increasingly frustrated.

"Ember, Solaris is just some impossible crap my family made up to justify staying in power. Impossible crap my father was stupid enough to believe."

The person sitting out of sight yawned.

"Enough with the grudge shit already." She said. "It happened five years ago. Get a life. And look at the crowd."

"His life's not the only thing he destroyed with that project, Ember."

"Yeah, yeah, he scarred your face. Big whoop."

Elise turned to face Ember. "Why don't you carve a deep gash into your nose and then stand on this podium, like I have to do, smiling and waving, for hours."

Ember sighed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, sometimes, I wish I had said no, lock me up, leave me alone, I don't want to be the brat's bodyguard. But nooooooo…"

Elise turned around again, and with a sigh, raised her arm to continue waving. However, she plunged her other arm into the well-concealed pocket at the front of her dress, pulling out the picture of her idol and kissing it.

"If only you'd come… Maybe this night would be worth it." She whispered to the picture, then slipped it back into her pocket and smiled.

By this time, the white boat had landed at a large pedestal. The dancers on the boat spun around once more and ended their dance by bowing, the ribbons on their arms trailing down into the canal's dark waters.

The Solarian High Priest beaconed to Elise. It was all a game from then on. Slight bow of the head in false respect, eyes slightly closed… Perfect.

As Elise walked up the steps leading to an ornate monument, she was handed the Torch of Soleanna.

Slowly glance up…

As soon as the Princess' eyes met the torch, she felt like she was being thrown back. A bright red-orange light blinded her for a moment.

When the light dimmed, Elise gasped as fire flooded Soleanna's canals. The pedestal where she had been standing a minute ago was engulfed in flames.

"What… the…"

A massive explosion suddenly rang out. Elise screamed and shielded her eyes as debris scratched her arms and dress. When she opened her eyes, a creature arose from a column of flame, about two-thirds her size, but whose features were undecipherable because of the light emanating from it.

At this point, Elise tried to run, however, she noticed that she was floating in the air, unable to move. The creature turned its head towards her. Elise was terrified.

And suddenly she was back on the pedestal.

"Miss Elise? Miss Elise?" A maid shook her gently.

"Oh, its… its all right." Elise removed the hand from her shoulder and stepped up to the monument.

Now to say something cheesy.

"We give thanks…" Elise began, "For the blessed flames. May we always continue to have peace. Sun of Soleanna, guide us with you eternal light… Now and forever!

As she spoke the words "Now and forever", she touched the flame to the monument. The oil inside immediately reacted with the torch's fire, sending fire around the pedestal and up the multi-branched monument, briefly and proudly illuminating the Crest of Soleanna. As soon as the monument became alight, the firework show reached its climax, Elise waved, the crowd cheered…

Only to scream in terror as missiles streaked through the sky and smashed into the pedestal and nearby buildings, scattering the crowd instantly and sending the priests tumbling into the water below. Chunks of the ancient buildings began to fall, causing mass panic in the streets.

A missile suddenly crashed into the monument, which began to tremble dangerously. "Elise, get back!" Ember warned, running up to the pedestal and attempting to pull Elise away from the monument, while Elise stared, transfixed, at the sky. Suddenly, a loud _snap_ was heard, and the monument began to fall. Elise didn't react.

Seeing that the Princess was about to get crushed, Ember roughly pushed her aside. Elise tripped down three of the steps, in the process smashing her nose. As it began to bleed, Elise turned angrily, about to yell at her bodyguard…

Before noticing Ember on the floor, her legs crushed by the middle branch of the monument, the Crest of Soleanna lying on its side, dangerously close to her head. A stream of blood ran down her mouth, and she appeared to be unconscious, or at least close to being so.

"Ember!" Elise gasped, running up the steps she had just been pushed down and seeing if her bodyguard was all right.

"Elise…" Ember gasped, her voice laced with pain. "Get… to… the boat."

Before Elise could react, however, a loud motor sound filled the air. Elise looked up, and what she had mistaken for a hallucination became clear.

A massive red airship blocked out the sky. Suddenly, compartments on the bottom of the ship opened and a whole squadron of curled up robots, more than anyone in the city had seen in their lives, were dropped from the ship. They immediately uncurled, revealing a very small head, long, thin limbs, and nasty guns.

Seven of them landed on what was left of the pedestal and immediately cocked their guns, waiting for the slightest reason to fire.

A small platform then came down from the ship. Someone stood on the platform, and as it approached, his features became visible.

Elise gasped. "It's him…"

The man was bald, looked like he was in his 50s, and was wearing a red tailed jacket adorned with yellow-gold square buttons, black pants and black boots with silver zippers lining their front.

He also had a dark brown, extremely bushy moustache.

Elise recognised him immediately.

"It is a pleasure to meet you at last, Princess of Soleanna."

Elise blushed. _A pleasure for him to meet me? _She thought. "N-no, the pleasure's all mine, Doctor Eggman." She said quickly.

The doctor looked surprised that Elise knew who he was, but immediately regained focus.

"Well then, I suppose introductions are not necessary then. I am here to obtain the secret of the Flames of Disaster from you. That, and to find the miracle gems that are the key to controlling it… The Chaos Emeralds."

While Eggman spoke, a staircase unfolded from the bottom of the floating platform.

"Now, Princess… This way please."

Elise didn't need to be told twice. She took a step, trying very, very hard not to look exited, when…

…What seemed to be a blue tornado suddenly appeared around the pedestal.

"My, that's a pretty snazzy performance there."

Both Elise and Eggman looked up at the same time to where a blue hedgehog with a beaming smile now stood.

"Who… Who are you?" While Elise had been a fan of Doctor Eggman since the accident, the blue hedgehog above was only faintly familiar.

"What, don't know about me? I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog." And with his introduction out of the way, he sprung into action, flying into a robot.

The others decided to shoot.

Sonic jumped, still smiling like a guy who's done the impossible every day, and still loves it. He curled into a ball and destroyed a second robot, while deliberately pausing in front of a third to watch it get shot by its brothers. A fourth went down, a fifth… Only one robot remained, standing dangerously close to the canal. Sonic stopped about a centimetre away...

A tap of his foot sent it spiralling down into the waters below.

While this was going on, Eggman turned to the Princess.

"Quickly!" He beaconed, "before…"

But the Doctor was too late. He didn't have time to finish his sentence before Sonic had grabbed Elise and now held her.

"Too slow, Eggman! See ya in a year when you catch up!" He yelled, and sped off, ignoring Elise's squirming.

"Fuck that hedgehog! Fire the missiles!" Eggman commanded. "And be careful, I want the Princess alive."

"Let… me… go!" Elise cried, but was immediately drowned out by the noise of several missiles crashing into the building beside them. By this time, the streets were deserted, so Sonic had no problem dodging them, even while carrying the squirming Elise.

Master of the Wind.

His name was Sonic.

Unbeknownst to all three of them, Sonic, Eggman, and Elise, they were being watched by a pale grey hedgehog with five quills similar to a leaf and two sticking out of his head. He smiled and raised his right hand in a fist while he said: "I've finally found him. The Iblis Trigger."


	2. Part 2, Enter Mephiles and Psyche

_Crisis City, Date Unknown_

Silver sped through the sky, ignoring the flame monsters below.

They could wait. He had a more important task.

While he flew, he scanned the ground, searching for anything that wasn't the red-orange of Iblis' minions or concrete grey.

Nothing so far. Then again, the scream seemed to have come from slightly further away.

Silver soon began to feel drained. Maintaining flight for however long he had been flying was exhausting. To stave off the tiredness for a while, he thought about the voice he had heard. It was definitely female. Blaze's?

For a second Silver dared to hope, then realised the sobering truth. The voice had been much higher-pitched than he had ever heard Blaze's.

He could no longer take the fatigue, he lowered himself onto a rooftop of some kind and rested as long as he could afford. 30 seconds, give or take a few. He looked over the edge while catching his breath…

And had an amazing stroke of luck.

Below him, on a slab of concrete with a massive amount of debris strewn all across it, he spotted something white and yellow moving. From his height, he couldn't tell what it was, only that it wasn't something normally seen in the city.

He could also see the minion.

It was abnormally large, almost 50 feet tall, and ugly as usual, with only half a rock mask and shoulder blade covering its body, which had a similar looking consistency to a mix of lava and raspberry jam, which Silver had only tasted once.

Silver, distracted by childhood memories of the wonderfully sticky jam, barely noticed what happened next.

The monstrous creature raised its head and blew a stream of fire towards the white and yellow thing/person, who immediately backed up, whimpering at this point.

"Hey! Demon!" Silver called, trying to get the minion's attention.

It worked. The creature slowly turned its head towards the building and Silver. The hedgehog quickly jumped down from the building, picked up some of the debris using his telekinetic powers, and fired them at the minion's head.

The monster groaned as the random pieces of rock and concrete battered its rather weak head armour. Silver sighed. This one wasn't even going to be a challenge, just an annoyance. Especially with the amount of debris lying around. He picked up more debris, preparing for a second round, when the creature fired pieces of molten magma in Silver's general direction.

Silver had never fought while having to protect someone before. The whatever-she-was screamed again as some of the magma came rather close to frying her. Silver cursed. Had she been injured? Unfortunately, he wasn't able to turn around. The creature raised its head again, preparing another fire blast.

Which never came.

Silver sent constant projectiles at the minion now, most of them hitting its head. Soon the monster's head armour had snapped off, revealing an utterly bland, defenceless, head.

"Time to end this." Silver said, and grabbing whatever he could, threw one final round of projectiles toward the creature. Most of which hit its neck.

The monster's head flew off, smashing into a building and popping like a huge grotesque bubble. The rest of the monster seemed to simply melt away into the lava.

_That obviously wasn't the real Iblis._ Silver thought, almost forgetting why he had come in the first place, until he heard a small whimper.

He turned around to face the person he had seen. From where he stood, it was now clear that she was a hedgehog. She was mainly white, with long pale yellow hair which partially hid her left eye. She had six main quills, three on each side of her head, each curved more downwards as they went. She also had six smaller quills, which sat on the top of her head and curled slightly inwards, looking like a 2D crown. She was wearing white elbow high gloves with two golden rings just above the elbows, a slightly baggy strapless minidress fastened tightly onto herself by a row of metal upside-down crescent moons, a pair of silver leggings coming just above her knee, and a pair of boots rather similar to Silver's own, the main differences being that her boots were mainly grey instead of the various shades of blue Silver's were, and that they had a pink horizontal stripe and a slightly ominous black star on the foot.

Silver walked up to her. "Ummm… hello…" He said uncertainly, never being very good at interacting with others, especially since this was only the fourth person he had ever met.

She shied away immediately, her lavender eyes wide with terror.

"No, it's okay, it's safe now, nothing's going to hurt you." As he came closer, he noticed her gloves had odd thin teal circles and lines decorating them, similar to his own gloves.

The hedgehog no longer backed away, and her eyes became slightly less wide, but she continued to tremble.

"Here, come on, get up." He told her, offering his hand for assistance.

She glanced at the hand for a second. Silver started to become impatient. He hadn't rescued her so she could stare at his hand. However, a second later, she took the hand and pulled herself up.

"Th-tha-tha-thank you." She said. She was a bit taller than Silver, but her shaking hid this fact.

"It wasn't a problem. That creature was easy." Silver said. The girl immediately turned deep red, as if embarrassed for some reason. "What is it?" Silver probed.

"I-I can usually take care of myself. But for some reason…It didn't work this time." She said.

"What didn't?" Silver asked. She ignored him.

"Well hey, we don't even know each other. I'm Silver." He said, quickly changing the subject.

"I'm Psyche." The other hedgehog said. She then turned towards the lava, where the creature had been previously. "Wh-what was that… thing?" She asked.

"It must have been one of Iblis' minions." Silver said, he too staring at the lava. "Because Iblis would never be so weak."

"Iblis?" She said.

Silver turned towards Psyche. "Where have you been living? Under a rock? Iblis is the Flames of Disaster. The thing or person that destroyed our world!"

Psyche stared at him blankly.

"How could you not know any of this? Surely your parents must have told you about Iblis, and how we have to find it, its true self, and destroy it to save this dying place!"

Psyche frowned, and opened her mouth to speak, but Silver was now on a rant.

"But it never ends! Every time anyone's ever come close to finding it, what they find always ends up being a minion! It's awful! There has to be another way. There must be a way to fully stop Iblis!"

"And there is."

Silver stopped talking.

Both hedgehogs looked at each other. "Did you just hear…?" Psyche began, but was interrupted.

"I'm right here."

They turned around…

And faced a black hedgehog with grey-blue stripes and slightly upturned quills standing on a rock, the reddish transparent rings on his gloves glowing menacingly. As he spoke again, both hedgehogs realised at the same time that he had no mouth.

"Just as a chicken comes from an egg, or a flower from a seed, everything has its origin. Iblis is no exception."

Silver tried to make eye contact with the hedgehog, but found he could not keep it; the hedgehog's eyes were too similar to a snake's.

"You need to find the being originally responsible for unleashing this catastrophe." The hedgehog continued.

"If only it were that easy." Silver said sombrely. "This happened 200 years ago at least."

The hedgehog's eyes met Silver's. He felt like he was being burned. "That is a small detail, a brushstroke in the masterpiece."

There was silence for a while, before Psyche asked the question Silver was afraid to ask. "How do we know we can trust you?" She asked suspiciously.

The hedgehog let Silver go and instead turned his gaze on Psyche. She gave a small, barely audible gasp as his eyes plunged into hers.

Another long silence followed, and the hedgehog finally looked away.

"You may call me Mephiles." He finally said. "I know who caused the Flames of Disaster to destroy the world. I will show you my records of the event." With that, he began to walk away. Before Silver could follow, Psyche grabbed his arm.

"You're sure about this?" She asked.

Silver wasn't. "…I don't see another way, do you?" He told her. "Stay behind though, if you like." He said, and began to float off.

Psyche immediately floated after him, much to Silver's shock. "Why didn't you just fly away from the minion?" he asked.

Psyche turned red again. "I... I… I panicked." She stammered, then fell silent.

The pair followed Mephiles to a crumbled building neither of them had been in before. Inside, odd equipment lined every wall. Psyche was very interested in it, but Silver made her keep up.

Mephiles stopped in a room with a large screen and keyboard inside covering most of the back wall. Massive shelves were stacked along the rest of the walls.

"In order to prevent your world from meeting this fate," Mephiles said, "you will have to eliminate the individual who awakened Iblis. In short, you must change the past.

"Um… I can't exactly do that." Silver said hesitatingly.

"But I can. As you have probably guessed, I am not from your time. I am a time traveller, helping countless people to save their timelines. Bringing you both back 200 years is within my power."

Psyche gasped. "No way!"

"…By finding the truth, the Iblis Trigger, there is hope." He said.

Silver paused, letting everything sink in. "So," he started, "if I eliminate this guy, our world will be saved?"

Mephiles sighed inwardly. This was really too easy. He pulled out the purple Chaos Emerald. "The Day of Disaster… This jewel will show you the day Iblis was freed and the demon's flames were released into the world. You have this person to blame."

Mephiles handed Silver the Chaos Emerald, all the while staring at Psyche. She tried not to show her fear of the hedgehog. If that's what he truly was…

Silver stared into the emerald's depths. Suddenly an image formed…

A blue hedgehog stood inside a ring of fire. As Silver watched, he turned and smiled evilly.

"Impossible!" Silver gasped suddenly, startling Psyche and making Mephiles give his equivalent of a smile. "A blue hedgehog is responsible for the destruction of our world?"

Mephiles took back the Chaos Emerald. "I'll send us into the point in time when the Iblis Trigger was alive." As he spread out his arms, a ball of indigo energy surrounded Silver, Psyche and Mephiles. Both Silver and Psyche shielded themselves from the light…

The ball disappeared. No one was left in the computer room.

Mephiles.

Master of Manipulation.

_White Acropolis, September 26, 2011_

_Rescue Rouge? More like a cheap escort mission._ Shadow thought. He had barely entered the base and destroyed a few searchlights when Rouge came out, an odd winged sceptre in tow. Thankfully, she was nowhere near as mad as Shadow expected she would be. She seemed to either be in denial that he had returned for GUN or in shock that he returned at all.

"So…" Rouge said finally as the pair was crossing a large open area, similar to an arena, "Want to know what this is?" She held up the sceptre, however, Shadow only glanced at it before saying "I'm not here to talk; I'm here because the president requested my assistance. GUN's affairs are no longer my business."

At this response, Rouge immediately went into a sort of pout. "With you, it's always business, isn't it?"

Before Shadow could answer, a grinding noise filled the air.

"What?" Shadow said to himself before spotting what appeared to be a slit in the wall. A massive door was opening, and something was coming out.

"Rouge!" He yelled, "Fly out of here!"

Rouge began to obey, but a shot suddenly rang out when Rouge was ten meters off of the ground.

"Damn." She cursed. "They're not letting us get away that easily!"

_So we have no choice but to fight whatever's coming out. Shit._ Shadow thought, before a small smile appeared on his face. _Let's see if the Doctor learned from last time we fought._

The doors were now completely open. A savage growl was heard from inside.

Shadow bent down slightly and began charging a Chaos Spear, ready to catch whatever was coming out by surprise…

Only to be completely overwhelmed as a massive dog-like robot bounded from inside and slammed into the snow, creating massive shockwaves that threw Shadow back, his Chaos Spear disappearing into the sky. Immediately, a grey object connected with the robot's head, who backed up, whimpering.

"Aww? Is the Ultimate Life Form going to be defeated by a puppy?" Rouge taunted, while preparing another bomb. Shadow removed his head from the snow, a murderous look on his face.

The "puppy" was toast.

Meanwhile, the dog had recovered from the bomb, and immediately began running around the arena, as if it really didn't care whether the intruders played with it or not.

That gave Shadow an idea.

"Distract it," He ordered Rouge, "While I grab the horn on its head."

"And what," She asked, "Make it hit something?"

Shadow just stared menacingly.

"Fine." She sighed. "Here puppy!" Rouge yelled, throwing a bomb towards the dog, which backed away and whimpered, remembering the last bomb.

Meanwhile, Shadow skated to the back of the dog's tail, where he noticed an orange rail. He smirked. Apparently, the Doctor hadn't learned anything. He jumped up onto the rail, grinding closer to the dog's horn…

And jumped again, grabbing onto the horn.

The dog immediately began running again, occasionally twisting around, trying to get the black hedgehog off of its horn. Shadow leaned to one side, the dog immediately turned to that side, still running.

A real plan began forming in Shadow's mind, based on Rouge's sarcastic comment. He began steering to dog towards a wall.

However, the dog still had a mind of its own. It turned around just as Shadow thought his plan would work, just barely avoiding wiping out as it slipped on a patch of black ice.

_Do what I tell you!_ Shadow yelled mentally at the dog. This seemed to work, because the dog no longer put up any resistance, and Shadow drove it into a wall.

Upon impact, the dog's head jerked back, shaking Shadow off of the horn and once again sending him faceplanting into the snow.

"Hey! Shadow!" Rouge called as he again removed his head from the snow. "It worked! Look!"

The dog was still at the wall, whining. Shadow skated closer to it when it turned around, growling, the mask on its face no longer present.

"Chaos… SPEAR!" Shadow commanded, aiming for the dog's forehead.

The growling died down, the red light in the dog's eyes fading to nothing.

As soon as the dog fell, a swarm of robots began flying down from the top of the arena, too many to count. The grinding noise resumed.

Shadow prepared for attack when Rouge grabbed his arm. "Come on Shadow, there's too many of them!" She yelled, and pointed to the closing door. "They won't be able to follow us in there!"

Shadow, despite his wish to attack, saw the sense in what Rouge was saying. He grabbed her arm and began skating towards the door, which was closing much faster than it had opened.

The door was only a meter wide by the time the two reached the door. Shadow slipped inside, Rouge right behind him…

A sickening snapping noise occurred at the same time as the door slammed shut. Shadow turned around, startled. Had Rouge been crushed?

Rouge was right behind him, also staring at the door. The remains of a crushed robot, wires still sparking, were lodged into the door.

"Thank God." Shadow said softly, before saying in a louder voice, "Let's go."

The pair slipped through the seemingly abandoned base. Oddly, there was not a robot in sight. They finally stopped in a small room with a computer monitor and screen. A portrait of a teenager was also on a wall.

"That's odd…" Rouge said. "That's Princess Elise the Third of Soleanna, last living heir to the throne. What's her portrait doing here?"

"And why does the Doctor's base lead to this room?" Shadow asked.

Rouge sat down at the screen and began typing. "I just need to set up a connection with GUN HQ. We're so far underground; my communicator's signal broke up."

Shadow observed the portrait of the Princess while Rouge typed. "If she's the last living heir, shouldn't she be queen?" He asked, trying to pass time.

"No… The Princess is only seventeen. Soleannan law dictates that the ruler must be an adult. Lord Regis is managing Soleanna until the Princess turns eighteen."

A loud beeping sound, followed by a chime, indicated that Rouge had connected to GUN. After a few seconds, she turned to Shadow.

"Shadow," she asked, "Would you mind escorting me to the GUN rendezvous point? I'd hate to dirty my hands dealing with our relentless pursuers alone." As she spoke, she twirled the sceptre around in her hand.

Shadow looked at her twirling the sceptre, then asked "Where's the rendezvous point?"

"The abandoned Soleanna Castle, in Kingdom Valley, just outside Soleanna Forest." Rouge answered. "I understand, of course, if you're too scared to go…" She added a small jab at Shadow, hoping it would coax him into agreeing.

Shadow thought about it for a minute, then said "Fine."

As Shadow's feet touched the stone, he wondered why Rouge had asked him to come with her. She had not been nearly as pleaseable at the end of the last mission.

He remembered how she had cried, how he couldn't do anything to help, how…

"Shadow? You awake?" Rouge asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Shadow said. "Goddamn it, where are those GUN agents? I thought _we_ were late…"

"Oh, they'll probably be here soon." Rouge said, as she examined the vine-covered castle walls. "The former king of Soleanna used to reside here. But there was an accident five years ago, and it's been left to rot ever since."

Shadow looked up at the walls. He never would have expected that all of the castle had only been lying abandoned for five years. It seemed more like fifty.

"An accident?" He asked, finally interested in something Rouge told him.

"I heard some scientists and the royal family were working on some sort of prototype energy engine, which failed and caused the accident. They called it…"

"The Solaris Project."

Both Shadow and Rouge looked up, startled.

Doctor Eggman and a hoard of robots flew just slightly overhead. As soon as they were spotted, the robots flew down and circled the two animals, pointing their guns at them.

"It was an ambitious project, named after their eternal sun god." Eggman continued. "And it had quite a bit to do with the sceptre you stole from me, Rouge. So if you would be so kind to give it back…"

"Doctor, this sceptre was in GUN's possession before you stole it." Rouge said. "I'm just taking it back."

"Well then, I have no choice." Eggman said. "Retrieve the sceptre."

The robots began firing. Shadow turned to one group and yelled "Chaos… SPEAR!", immediately destroying a bunch. Meanwhile, Rouge flew into the air, trying to get into a good position to bomb her enemies.

However, Eggman had a trick up his sleeve. He brought his hovercraft close and pulled out a Taser.

He pulled the trigger…

Rouge fell, the sceptre slipping out of her hand.

Shadow saw Rouge's fall. He skated, desperately rushing to grab the bat before her head hit the stone below. He slid, just barely scooping her into his arms.

The sceptre wasn't so lucky. It fell to the ground, a few robots rushing to grab it.

They failed.

The sceptre shattered.

The robots who had tried to grab the sceptre froze immediately, then began twitching, as if something was wrong with their circuits.

"No! Pull back! Pull back!" Eggman cried. Only a few robots answered his call, flying off at once.

The others weren't so lucky. A dark shape rose from the sceptre, then flew around the robots, destroying whatever it approached. It then rose up above both Shadow and Rouge.

"What the hell…" Shadow said.

The black form suddenly streaked towards the ground, seemingly aiming for Shadow.

At the last second, Shadow stepped back.

The form struck the ground, and disappeared.

Shadow thought it was over.

He was wrong.

"Shadow… Your… shadow…" Rouge gasped, still recovering from the electrical shock.

Shadow looked at the ground. Rouge was right. His shadow seemed to float away from his body. A black mist slowly formed around the shadow, and a few seconds later, a quill rose up from the ground.

Something was being created.

In a few seconds, both Rouge and Shadow were in disbelief as they stared at a green-gray… Shadow.

"Well now…" It said, "What's happened here?" It looked around for a second, spotting Shadow, it laughed. Both Shadow and Rouge noticed it had no mouth.

"Ah ha ha ha! Oh, how ironic fate can be! I would have never believed I would be resurrected through your shade! I thank you… Shadow the Hedgehog."

Shadow stepped back, startled, as the figure bowed. "How do you know my name? Who are you?" He asked.

The figure slowly walked towards Shadow, keeping it's head down, looking like an odd puppet. "I am Mephiles. Mephiles… the Dark. What, did you forget about me? About my promise to you? I owe much to you. Oh yes…" It hesitated. "What you gave to me years ago, I shall return to you. A one-way ticket to oblivion!"

At this, the figure, Mephiles, raised his hand, summoning an orb of indigo energy that surrounded Rouge and Shadow. Rouge gasped…

All three were gone.

Fifteen minutes later, a jeep pulled up to the castle. Two men walked out, and stopped.

Robotic pieces were scattered everywhere, and there was no sign of Agent 1916.

"1876, this is the last time we're getting doughnuts on the job." One told the other.

_Soleanna Castle Town, September 26 2011_

"Let go of me now, hedgehog!"

Sonic stopped, extremely confused.

"Hey, no need to panic, the robots are gone, and it doesn't look like we're being chased…"

"Put me down now, before I put out a warrant for your arrest."

Sonic looked at the Princess with a quizzical expression. This had never happened before. Slowly, he did as the Princess commanded. As soon as her feet were on the ground, she smoothed her dress and cleaned up her hair, refusing to even acknowledge Sonic's presence. When she was done, she said "Take me back there, hedgehog."

"What, are you serious?" Sonic asked. "You can't go back there; Eggman will kidnap you for sure!"

"If I remember correctly, hedgehog," Elise said prissily, "It is only considered a kidnapping if the victim is unwilling."

"Wait, let me get this straight. You _want_ Eggman to kidnap you?" Elise folded her arms, looking frustrated with Sonic, who at this point was beginning to feel like he shouldn't have interfered. "Why the hell would you want… Argh!"

While Sonic had been busy arguing with Elise, he hadn't noticed two robots sneak up on him. The next thing he felt was a massive amount of pain in his left side while three darts smacked him in the back, delivering a massive electrical shock.

"Our little game ends here, Sonic." A blurry voice from overhead said, or at least, it sounded something like that. "Come on, Princess…"

Before Sonic lost consciousness completely, he struggled to look up…

But slumped down before seeing anything worthwhile.

"Shall we bring in the hedgehog?" A metallic voice asked Doctor Eggman, as Elise climbed up the steps leading to his hovercraft.

"No. The Taser should keep him incapacitated long enough. Besides, this was too easy. I want a challenge. Oh ho ho ho!"

And with that, two robots and the hovercraft rejoined Eggman's ship in the sky.

"Sonic! Sonic, wake up!" A familiar voice pulled Sonic out of his stupor.

"Nygh… Why is it so bright… Tails!"

The orange and white fox looked at Sonic, a serious expression on his face.

"Sonic, you look like a mess. What happened last night? The whole town's been talking about explosions and the Princess being kidnapped!"

"Last night? What time is it?" Sonic asked, still slightly dazed.

"It's about ten AM." Tails answered, becoming slightly annoyed.

"Whoa! I've been out of it for that long? Crap! Eggman could be anywhere by now!"

"Hey, settle down Sonic. Don't sweat it. I went out to Wave Ocean this morning and found one of those feathers Elise keeps in her hair. Eggman must have gone out past Wave Ocean and on to Dusty Desert!"

Sonic listened to Tails, but he couldn't help but doubt whether he should go rescue the Princess or not. She had seemed to want to be kidnapped… Not to mention she was quite bratty, and it was her fault he had been tasered.

"Sonic? You listening?"

"Uh, yeah. Okay, let's go find Eggman." Sonic said, and the duo rushed off.

At least, as far as a group of guards let them go.

"By Lord Regis' orders, no one is to leave Soleanna until the Princess is found." A guard told Tails when he asked why the doors leading outside were being barred.

"Umm… May I ask why that's such a good idea?" Tails asked. "Don't you know who kidnapped the Princess?"

"Umm… Well…" The guard stammered.

"Why are you guys spending your time guarding doors when you should be rescuing the Princess?" Tails asked.

"Well, you're… I guess you're right. Men," he ordered to the rest of the troops, "We shall go to Lord Regis and present those arguments."

As they all left the door, Sonic snickered. "Man Tails, those guys are stupid."

Tails looked at Sonic. "I wasn't trying to trick them. I was being serious."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure."

Tails looked at him, slightly hurt, but didn't comment further as the two left the city.

A few minutes later, a grey cat looked around. Seeing no one, she slipped through the doors and into the desert beyond.

She had a Princess to save.

"Eggman's definitely here." Sonic said a few miles later as they entered what seemed to be a ruin. Look at all the robots."

Tails sighed. "I can see, you know." He said.

Sonic ruffled Tails' fur on his head. "And I respect that." Sonic said. "How are we going to find the Princess?"

Tails pulled out a small device. "Well, I have the ruin's blueprints, so the question we really need to ask ourselves is; where will the Princess be kept?"

"I'm thinking somewhere between a cell and a suite." Sonic said. Tails raised an eyebrow. "A suite?"

"It's a bit confusing to me too." Sonic said.

Tails tapped a few buttons on his device, waited, then turned to Sonic. "The cells are a few floors down." He told Sonic. "Want to look there first?"

"Count me in." Sonic said. "Let's go!"

They both flew out from behind a pillar at the same time.

Sonic took out two with a quick homing attack, then spindashed towards the second floor. Tails threw a couple of ring bombs towards some robots, distracting them, then finished them off with a powerful tail attack.

The two regrouped on the second floor, behind another pillar.

"How many?" Sonic asked. "I got at least four."

"Five." Tails said proudly. "Six if you count the one that got shot in the confusion.

"Show off." Sonic muttered. Tails smirked. "How many more floors do we have?"  
"Two." Tails told him.

"Well then, I'd better pick up the pace." Sonic jumped out from behind the pillar, ramming into the robots like they were made out of rice paper.

"Hey! Not fair!" Tails yelled, rushing behind Sonic, destroying whatever was left.

They made it down to the cells in no time, and predictably, found Princess Elise sitting in one, lost in her thoughts.

_Remember Elise, be a good girl. Never cry, no matter what…_

"Hey, Princess!"

Elsie turned towards the bars of her cell, looking annoyed. "Oh, it's you, hedgehog. Can't you ever leave me alone?"

Tails stared in disbelief. Sonic began getting frustrated.

"Look. I came here to save you from Doctor Eggman's clutches…"

The Princess sighed dramatically. "That's the thing you boys don't ever seem to understand. I don't need to be saved. I'm perfectly comfortable where I am."

"Come on Tails, we're wasting our time here." Sonic said, finally getting too impatient. He turned to leave…

Only to be smacked down by a completely unexpected punch in the face.

"What-" Sonic asked, only to be hit by another punch, this time to the stomach. He looked at his attacker. She was a grey cat, with black hair down to her shoulders and angry silver eyes.

That's all he noticed before getting punched again.

Tails interfered then. He tossed a ring bomb, distracting the attacker; then whipped her across the face with one of his tails. That gave Sonic enough time to kick her in the stomach. Winded, the attacker stepped back, only to be kicked in the face by Sonic as soon as he had gotten up.

She was not done yet however. The dark-purple streaks in her hair, barely visible, turned bright orange red. Grinning, she sent out a fireball.

Sonic jumped out of the way of the fireball, only to be hit by the next one and sent spinning across the room.

The attacker smirked, took a step forward…

Only to be kicked in the back by Tails, who had flown behind her unnoticed. She gasped with a mix of pain and surprise and fell down, stunned.

Tails kicked the cat in the side, forcing her to turn around. He was about to punch her in the face…

And was smacked by another fireball. Screaming, he dropped to the ground, rolling around in case his fur was on fire.

By this time, Sonic had recovered from the fireball. He ran back to the fight and stomped the attacker in the stomach, winding her again. Tails got up, making sure he had no burns, took out some rope he had with him and bound the cat's hands.

"What's the big idea?" Sonic asked angrily. "Why the hell did you attack us like that?"

The cat blew a piece of hair out of her eyes, a mix of hate and boredom in her eyes. "I saw you take Elise last night, just before I lost consciousness. Today, I followed you, seeing if you'd lead me to her."

"Ember, one, they have nothing to do with me being here, and two, I'm here of my own free will." Elise said.

Tails nodded in agreement. "We were trying to rescue her, and then you came along…"

Ember looked at Elise with a cold look in her eye. "Why didn't you just tell me that before I attacked them then?" She asked.

"Because," Elise said superiorly, "They've been bothering me all day, and I wanted to see if you were actually worth keeping out of prison. So far, I think not."

An evil look formed on Ember's face, the large ring she wore on a chain glowing bright, but it suddenly stopped a second later. The cat smirked.

"And you're not worth protecting, Princess." A spark suddenly appeared from her hands, setting fire to the rope. In a few seconds she was free.

"You could have just asked us to untie you, you know." Sonic said.

"My way's faster, and doesn't rely on you." Ember replied. "See ya." She took a step away…

And quickly turned and shot Elise. Elise raised her hand to her shoulder, attempting to yank out the dart now embedded there, only to slump down, unconscious.

Already Ember had heated up two of the metal bars and kicked them down.

"What?" Sonic asked. "Why'd you shoot her?"

Ember had meanwhile swung Elise over her shoulder. "I don't need her squirming when I'm getting away from all the robots in this place."

Sonic made a mental note to himself. Stay off this girl's bad side.

"You coming?" She asked. Tails raised his eyebrow, extremely confused.

Sonic was just as confused, but didn't show it. "You admitting you need our help getting out?"

"That's ridiculous." She said quickly, almost cutting Sonic off. "You say you came to rescue the Princess. Prove it. For all I know, you're just trying to avoid a beating."

Tails mouthed "obnoxious" to Sonic, who nodded slightly. However, what the cat said made sense, even if it was being used to avoid asking for help.

"Fine, we'll help you." Sonic said, "But you'd better be able to keep up." He and Tails immediately raced right past Ember before she had the chance to make a sarcastic comment.

"Holy shit." She mouthed, before racing after them.


	3. Part 3, Time Twists and a Bad Fight

**Silver's Story, Part 3**

_White Acropolis, September 26, 2011, Late Night_

_Where am I? _

A confused figure walked in circles, seeing endless white and gray.

_Is this the past?_

_Where's Silver?_

Suddenly, something landed on the hedgehog's nose.

"Chuu!" She sneezed as a tickling sensation ran up her nose.

That's when she noticed the small points of white coming down from the sky. She began to calm down as she walked around, trying to see the points more closely. She squinted at one, trying to see it closer…

Her eyes widened.

It wasn't a point at all! It was beautifully shaped, with six points and a perfectly symmetrical pattern. She went to see another one. It was different!

She began to try to catch the… whatever they were, trying to see all of the different patterns. Eventually she stopped, laughing, and leaned against a rock wall.

Then she realised that she was not warm. In fact, she felt rather uncomfortable. She moved away from the wall she had been leaning on, and began to float upwards…

Psyche heard a noise. She immediately propelled herself towards a decent sized boulder to hide behind. After a few seconds, she looked in the direction of the noise…

And almost collapsed as complete and utter panic descended upon her.

_They can't be here, it can't be them, please let it be my imagination…_She begged, but as she looked again, there was no doubt on what they were.

About half a dozen robots were in sight, facing the direction of the boulder. As she watched, scarcely breathing, the robots slowly approached, guns ready.

Psyche fought hard to stop panicking and to focus. The robots came closer…

Psyche got up and faced them.

_Soleanna Forest, September 26, 2011, Afternoon_

As the hedgehog got up, dazed, the first thing he noticed was that everything was green and shady.

The second thing he noticed was that he was leaning against something rough. He turned slowly, still in a slight stupor, only to face something he had only ever seen one picture of.

A tree.

Silver was no longer in a stupor. He got up quickly, only to bash his head on something and to fall right back down.

"Owww…" He muttered, looking up, only to see that he had hit his head on a low tree branch.

_Well, that wasn't a great start to saving the world. _He thought to himself, before crawling to a place where it was safe to stand and getting up.

He faced a majestic forest with so many trees you could barely see ten meters ahead of you. The sunlight barely penetrated the thick leafy canopy. Silver got onto a path, the only possible landmark, and followed it, admiring the foliage while he walked. It lead to a dark swampy area.

_Wait._ He suddenly thought, _where's Psyche?_

"Psyche!" He called, turning behind him, but she was nowhere in sight, and his call died away, leaving the forest as silent as ever.

_Hmm… I hope she's okay._ He thought. She was a bit clueless, but she was the first person he had met in ages. He had also noticed that Mephiles was nowhere to be found either, but Silver had no doubts that he could take care of himself.

_So. I guess now I find the Iblis Trigger._Silver thought.

There was only one problem.

Silver had no idea where he was. Nothing looked remotely like the city he had grown up in. Not even the ground, which was covered in some kind of plant life. Either grass or moss.

Silver thought of levitating, but the canopy was so thick that he couldn't without risking his head. He had no choice but to get out into the open. Frustrated, he wondered why Mephiles had ditched him here while he jumped on a giant lily pad, sending him flying up and into the open. Perfect. He immediately began flying. While he did so he looked down, and for the first time saw a lake of something other than lava. How so much water could exist in one place baffled him.

He scanned the horizon, looking for anything resembling a tall building.

In vain.

It was not until evening that he saw bright lights on the horizon. By then, he was almost completely drained of his energy, and as soon as he entered the city gates, or rather flew over them, he collapsed on a roof, exhausted.

While lying down, he drank in the noise that was coming from the center of the city. It was completely unfamiliar to him, like most things in this time. As soon as he could stand, he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, like he had seen Blaze do, slowly, trying to see what the noise was.

The noise suddenly changed to a much more familiar noise. Screams.

Silver ran towards them. He finally came to a stretch of street, where people were fleeing in terror as missiles smashed into buildings that crumbled onto the street.

Silver immediately rushed into action, lifting chunks of the buildings and yelling "Run!" to the people on the streets, who obeyed. Some thanked him before running, but most were in a panic and simply screamed.

Once all of the people were gone, Silver placed the massive building chunks back down on the ground carefully.

He might have taken the growing pain at the back of his head for a warning sign that he had pushed his abilities too far, but he was distracted by more missiles streaking down the street, following a blue hedgehog carrying what seemed to be a human. As he watched, the hedgehog outran all of the missiles and turned the corner.

Silver raised his fist triumphantly.

"I've finally found him. The Iblis Trigger."

However, as he was about to pursue the hedgehog, a missile smashed into the building he was standing on.

Silver spun his arms in a second of panic, but quickly closed his fists, waiting for teal energy to take him to safety…

Nothing happened.

Silver fell, confused. As he hit the ground along with a volley of building pieces, a massive wave of pain greeted him…

Then everything went black.

_White Acropolis, September 26, Late Night_

Snow fell quietly on the mountain.

There was no movement, no sound to be heard.

A robot stood still, surrounded by the remains of his comrades and the bullets that had taken their lives. It slowly reached towards its neck, feeling for a specific wire. As it tugged, the light left its eyes, almost regretfully.

A few meters from there, the last boot prints in the snow began to fade.

If someone had been there to look up at that moment, they would have seen a pink and white blur disappear into the sky.

_Soleanna Castle Town, September 27, Early Morning_

"Hey, mister, are you okay?"

"Wha… Owww… What the… Who are you?"

Silver struggled to speak coherently. The little rabbit in front of him giggled.

"Don't worry mister, you're safe here. The nice man in the funny hat brought you here after he heard about how you saved all those people in the attack last night. I'm Cream, and this is Cheese." Silver looked at the rabbit, confused as to what she was referring to as "Cheese".

A blue… thing… was perched on the rabbit's shoulder. At the mention of its name, the thing flew off of her shoulder and approached Silver.

"Cheese is a Chao. Don't worry, he's really nice." She said, as she noticed Silver's slight hesitation. "What's your name, mister?"

"Silver." He said, but became concerned. "Uh, Cream, is there anyone else here? Like maybe the man with the hat?"

"Of course there is. The funny hat man isn't here right now, but Mom is here with me."

"Could you get your mom to come in? ...Please?"

"Of course, Mr. Silver." And with that, Cream skipped off, Cheese following her. As Cream left, she pushed the door so that it was mostly closed.

As Cream's footsteps faded, Silver observed his surroundings. He was in a dark room with a very tall ceiling. There were two windows, only one streaming light in through a gap in the heavy material covering them. He seemed to be lying on a soft surface. He slowly raised his hand and let it fall. It sprung off of the soft surface. _Weird. _He thought.

Suddenly, Silver heard noises coming from the hallway. He tried to sit up, just barely being able to, and tried to see what was going on.

A few people, mainly women, scurried around the hall, chattering to each other. Silver slid down from the bed, wobbling, but managed to get close enough to the door to see a bit of what was going on.

Someone was carrying something in their arms, as the ladies all walked behind, whispering to each other. Silver strained, trying to see what the person was carrying…

He saw the white quills.

He also saw blood.

Silver backed away from the door, confused.

What had happened?

Psyche woke up a few hours later. Apparently she had passed out near the castle, and she had been in rather rough shape, so no one wanted to take her to the hospital, which was on the other end of the city, when they had good doctors in the castle.

Silver, after resting for a while, went to see her. He explained everything that had happened since he had come to the past, and when he was done, expected her to do the same.

But she did not.

After a few minutes of silence, Silver said: "Well, you probably need some rest. I'm going outside for a while." Psyche did not answer, but nodded slightly, and closed her eyes.

Silver left, confused and annoyed. He could tell something had bothered Psyche when he told her what had happened in the streets of Soleanna, and she had been bleeding…

Why was she hiding things from him?

He suddenly stopped.

The Iblis Trigger was right in front of him, oblivious to his presence.

Silver didn't hesitate.

He immediately charged his telekinesis and grabbed the hedgehog. He cried in surprise, just before Silver tossed him into a wall.

The hedgehog gasped in pain and turned around as soon as he recovered.

"I've been looking for you, Iblis Trigger." Silver said, as he grabbed a chair and swung it at the blue hedgehog, who twisted around, dodging the chair's first pass, only to be cracked on the head as the chair swung around again. He fell, and Silver knocked him in the head again. However, the hedgehog got up, and before Silver knew what was happening, he was kicked in the back. He stepped forward, just barely keeping his balance, as the hedgehog asked: "What the-"

"Your actions will condemn us all!" Silver shouted, tossing a nearby café table at the hedgehog. However, Silver was too slow this time. The hedgehog simply jumped on the table and, curling into a ball, struck Silver in the head.

Meanwhile, the tenant of the café in front of where the two hedgehogs were fighting had begun to call all of his friends over. "Hey, guys, I think the hedgehog that everyone's calling a hero is over at my café, fighting a blue hedgehog!"

Soon, a crowd formed around the two hedgehogs. No one interfered with the fight of course; they could have been seriously injured, or worse, they might have stopped it altogether, but many of them bet among themselves on the fight's outcome.

Meanwhile, Silver began to realize he had made a serious mistake.

A very serious mistake.

The Iblis Trigger moved faster than the eye could follow, delivering blows to Silver before he realized the hedgehog had moved. Silver simply couldn't keep up.

As the gray hedgehog racked his brains for a plan, the blue hedgehog escalated his attacks, slamming a red sneaker into Silver's face.

That's when Silver figured out a plan.

He fell over, looking defeated, panting.

The blue hedgehog finally stopped moving. He stared at Silver, took a step forward…

…Only to be tripped by a table leg, then slammed into a wall and fell to the ground. As he went to get up, the table leg flew, aiming for the hedgehog's heart…

…To be just barely stopped as the hedgehog grabbed it just before it impaled him. However, he was in a bad position. The table leg refused to be deterred, a teal aura surrounding it, and it took all of the blue hedgehog's strength to keep it at bay.

Silver got up, shaken. Blood dripped down his fur, and his yellow eyes were wide, making him look slightly crazed. "Is this a joke?" He tried to sound cocky, but he didn't succeed in hiding some of the tiredness in his voice. "How could someone like you cause the destruction of our world?"

The blue hedgehog barely answered as the table leg gained an inch towards his chest. "What… do you… mean?"

Suddenly a small doubt filled Silver's mind. Would this hedgehog really destroy the world? For what purpose?

Then suddenly something dark descended in front of his vision, and he remembered his world, the flames, his parents, Blaze, Psyche…

And his yellow eyes turned cold.

"It doesn't matter. For the sake of the future, the Iblis Trigger must be killed!" He put even more power into stabbing the hedgehog with the table leg, and the leg descended a few more inches, now touching the hedgehog's chest.

Silver focused harder, and suddenly the darkness flooded his vision again. He wanted to make this hedgehog suffer before he died. And so, before the Iblis Trigger could recover, the table leg was gone and he found himself against another wall. And another. And another.

Silver chuckled softly. "Like it? Because it's only a taste of what's in store for you." He then took two chairs and pressed them into the hedgehog's wrists, making it impossible for the Iblis Trigger to protect himself from the table leg, which slowly, as if savouring the moment, positioned itself over the hedgehog's heart.

Silver looked at the crowd. Its mood had slightly changed. Some faces looked uncomfortable, others had dangerous smiles, as if they possessed no conscience…

One face stood out.

A look of pure terror was painted on Cream's face.

The rabbit was terrified of Silver!

That realization broke through the darkness, and touched a note in Silver. He looked, confused…

The tree table legs struck Silver in the head. He cried out in pain, turned…

…but the Iblis Trigger was long gone.

"Damn it!" Silver cursed, remembering what Blaze had said once.

The crowd began to disperse, some quickly, others less so. Only Cream stayed, the same look in her eyes. Silver approached hesitatingly.

"Cream… I…"

"Stay away!" She cried, backing up. "How could you do that to Mr. Sonic? You were going to kill him, weren't you? Mr. Sonic is nice! He saved me and my mom! How could you do that?" Cream backed up again, then ran away, Cheese following.

Silver sighed. What had come over him? He had thought of killing the Iblis Trigger as just a mission, something to just be gotten over with, but now he wasn't so sure…

He didn't think of himself as a violent person. But what had happened… He'd enjoyed seeing the blue hedgehog's pain. He'd loved it…

Silver walked back to the castle, feeling doubt for the first time in his life.

**Shadow's Story, Part 3**

_Unknown Location_

Nothingness.

To the untrained eye, that was all the vast dark silent place appeared to be.

But he was not untrained.

Shadow could notice the subtlety of the dark shades that formed the void he found himself floating in. While most hues gave no hints, there were one or two bright colours that would flash by every so often.

"Rouge!"

The silence rushed back quickly, as if it disliked being interrupted.

Shadow cursed. He should have seen the attack coming… And the fact that he had gotten separated from Rouge was unacceptable. Completely unacceptable.

And then there was… The energy.

It was undeniably there. Shadow could feel it swirling all around, it's presence a terrifying relief, a force more powerful than the Master Emerald itself…

Pure Chaos.

He had to find Rouge.

"Rouge!" He called again.

"Shadow…" A faint voice replied.

"Rouge! I'm coming!"

"Shadow…"

Shadow charged his shoes and glided to where he suspected the noise had come from. Or where he thought it had. There were no reference points in this place, nothing to confirm he was moving in the right direction…

Something tapped his shoulder.

"Augh!" Shadow turned around, startled…

To find Rouge laughing her head off.

"Gotcha." She said, still giggling.

Shadow cursed under his breath. Stupid… What else would be here? "You caught me off guard. It won't happen again."  
"Oh, sure."

Shadow wouldn't have tolerated this kind of teasing from anyone else. As it was, he turned away somewhat bitterly.

"Rouge." He said softly. "We need to get out of here. It's not stable here."

Rouge stopped laughing. "What do you sense exactly?"

"Chaos energy. Massive amounts of it… In fact…"

A loud boom sounded in the distance. Shadow clenched his fists, feeling a sudden surge of Chaos.

He grabbed Rouge's arm. "Hold on to me! Chaos… CONTROL!"

A sudden bluish flash…

Nothing.

_Crisis City, Date Unknown_

"Shadow, wake up."

He groaned. His head throbbed.

"Wake up, Shadow."

"Rouge…" He struggled and managed to sit up.

"Shadow, get up. We need to move."

Rouge flew upwards, looked at something, then flew back downwards. Shadow stood, ignoring the constant pain in his head.

"That Chaos Control… How did you…" Rouge stopped as an orange flash shone in the distance. "Move, now."

Shadow obeyed. Following Rouge, he passed through a set of ruined hallways and jumped onto a rail.

Everything burned. Under the rail he was grinding on, Shadow saw a sea of lava, and above him, dark clouds painted the ominous sky.

"Where are we?" Shadow asked.

"No idea!" Rouge yelled back. "But we need to get to more stable ground!"

Suddenly, a flaming chunk of a building fell onto the rail that Shadow was grinding on. He felt it lurch before it began to fall

"Fuck!"

Shadow knew he didn't have much time. He jumped up, waited till he was at his highest, activated his rocket shoes…

It wouldn't be enough. He knew this.

His rocket shoes powered off, and he began to fall…

His fall was suddenly stopped as something grabbed his arm.

"Need some help?" Rouge asked.

Shadow looked up and saw Rouge was smiling. "Maybe." He admitted reluctantly.

"There, was that so hard?"

"What?"

Rouge was no longer smiling. "You finally admitted that you need my help."

Shadow closed his eyes. That again… The very topic he had been trying to avoid.

"It looks safe over there." Shadow pointed to a ledge, avoiding the unpleasant subject.

Rouge didn't comment.

She steered them over to the ledge, where she immediately let go of Shadow, and then landed beside him.

"First things first. Let's find out where we are… Rouge?"

Rouge didn't respond. She had her eyes fixed on a faded piece of metal.

"Is that… Omega?"

Both Shadow and Rouge rushed over to the robot. It seemed like he had been there for ages, standing in one position, perfectly still, covered in dust and rubble.

"What the… How long has he been here? Why is he here in the first place? Why…"

"Rouge," Shadow said calmly. "Can you reactivate him?"

"Oh yeah, right." The bat examined Omega for a moment, then said; "Startup initiated, code D366-O92."

There was no response from the robot.

"Startup override, 88645-S-Delta.

Again, there was no response for a long time, then finally an oddly loud deep voice said: "Access Denied, protocol Standby until date 29-01-2211, time 18-43-07.72. Standby reinitiated."

Rouge stepped away, looking frustrated, then turned to Shadow.

"29-01-2211… Well, at least we know that we're in the proper dimension, and the date is before January 29 2211… Question is, what's the exact date?"

Shadow looked at what remained of the last of the E-Series robots, then looked over to the building they were standing in front of. The remains of a tall skyscraper, similar to all, except for  
the faded small white star on the bottom right corner of the wall facing them.

Rouge followed his gaze, and her eyes rested on the star.

"It could be nothing." Shadow commented. "It could just be some meaningless graffiti…"

Rouge grabbed his arm. "Bullshit, and you know it. Come on!"

The building was, in fact, a G.U.N base, as noted by the semi-hidden white star. As soon as Rouge and Shadow had entered the basement level of the building, they found plenty of high-tech computer gear. Or at least, high tech by their standards. In fact, nothing appeared to be any different from any other G.U.N base from their own time, except for the fact that all of the equipment was either covered in rubble or dust.

The equipment that wasn't broken.

Shadow pondered this. "I believe that whatever catastrophe has struck in this location, it began not long after our time, if not during it."

Rouge nodded as she attempted to get a monitor to function. "I think so too. But we can't be exactly sure unless we can get one of these to work…"

As Rouge worked, Shadow thought. He had managed to perform Chaos Control without a Chaos Emerald, but had knocked himself out in the process, something that had never happened before. And they ended up here, where and whenever here was.  
_  
Mephiles… _He was the key. He knew at least some of the answers, he would bet his life on it. Whatever Mephiles was, he had attempted to kill them.  
_The next time we meet, it will be rather… Unpleasant… For him. And I'll get my answers._ Shadow promised himself, the faintest of smiles creeping onto his face.

"Got it!" Rouge gave a small laugh, proud of her success. "It won't last long, but we can get some answers."

"Good." Shadow responded. He immediately typed in his first question. The date.

"Current Date is approximately 28-01-2211; time 21 Hours, 51 Minutes, 28.86 Seconds. Margin of Error 1.3% Due to inactive server."

"Well. Omega's almost charted to wake up." Rouge said. "I wonder who set him there for tomorrow…"

Shadow, meanwhile, had proceeded to his next question.

"Current Location… G.U.N Base, Empire City."

Empire City? That was across the ocean from Soleanna… How had Chaos Control brought them so far away? Rouge must have been thinking along similar lines, because she gasped rather  
loudly when she heard their location.

"Rouge." Shadow said presently. "Obviously we've travelled through both Space and Time, and I'm not sure on how we can get back without at least two Chaos Emeralds."

"Let's go find them then!" Rouge said excitedly, her confusion temporarily forgotten. "Surely you didn't forget you're talking to the world's greatest Treasure Thief…"

"Second-best." A voice suddenly rang out from the hallway. "I personally know the world's best Treasure Thief, and you're not him."

Rouge turned around, with slight annoyance, but more anger. "And who," she asked, approaching the voice, "Might that be?'

"Fang the Sniper." The feminine voice said drily, as its owner stepped into view, a grey cat with black and purple hair and silver eyes wearing dark grey armoured leather.

"Come on Ember, don't pick a fight. I know these guys." A voice that both of them recognised immediately.

"Sonic? Rouge asked.

"Guilty as charged." Sonic stepped into view as well, along with his best friend, Tails, who didn't say anything. He didn't always speak in Rouge's presence.

Shadow smirked. "Hello, faker."

"Quite a story." The group walked as they exchanged their respective tales, and soon found themselves outside and facing a charred ledge, the sea of lava underneath casting an ever-present ominous glow. Sonic kicked a rock and watched as it fell into the abyss.

"Yeah, so was yours. So how are we gonna get out of this time period?"

Shadow said nothing, though an answer was forming in his mind. The newcomer, Ember, noticed this.

"Found a solution?" She asked, her voice somewhat laced with sarcasm.

"I believe…" Shadow turned to Sonic. "When Rouge and I were trapped in that… Place, we escaped by warping. A stronger warp may be able to create a rip in Space-Time that will lead us back into our own time."

Tails understood first. "So your Chaos Control will…"

"Yes, but that alone is insufficient." Shadow said sharply, cutting Tails off. After a pause, he continued, still addressing Sonic. "Despite… Everything, you are the only person here other than I that can warp using a Chaos Emerald."

Sonic paused, possibly in thought, then nodded. "Alright. Guess we'll have to work together then, Shadow. Just like old times, right?"

Shadow gave Sonic a dark look. _Don't remind me…_

**Sonic's Story, Part 3**

_Dusty Desert, September 27, 2011_

"Six!"

"Ten!"

"Oh come on Sonic, there weren't even ten in that group!"

Sonic looked behind, to where the remains of several hordes of robots lay.

"How far behind do you think she is?"

Tails looked back in turn. "Want me to check?"

Sonic nodded, and Tails flew off. 30 seconds later, he returned.

"She's not actually far behind. She's sure taking her time destroying anything that gets in her way though. And she's being fancy about some of those jumps."

Sonic tapped his foot impatiently. "Well she'd better get here soon, or I'm leaving without her." He said.

Tails was right. About a minute later, Ember was in front of them, still carrying Princess Elise over her shoulder. She looked slightly tired.

"Fifteen..." She gasped.

Sonic smirked. "You'll have to do better than that…" He was interrupted by the sight of more robots coming towards them.

Sonic paused, thinking. Even he didn't want to fight waves and waves of robotic minions all day.

Especially not on a cliff ledge.

Tails had an idea first. "Sonic!" He called. "Plan 52!"

"You sure?" Sonic yelled back.

They didn't have much time to decide, and if the robots had any intelligence at all, they would execute the plan themselves, but on their own terms...

Sonic saw a few golden dummy rings erupt from a bomb before jumping off the cliff…

…And bouncing off a cragged rock, onto another, another…

To anyone looking down, Sonic would have just been a blur, jumping and twisting off of rocks, just barely managing to avoid injury.

He ran across a crag, jumped off, curled into a ball…

And hit the ground.

Easy.

Sonic uncurled, grinned, took a step…

His foot entered water.

"Aaah!" He cried, yanking his foot out of the liquid and peering down cautiously, his cockiness gone instantly. He heard a small laugh.

"Oh come on Tails…" He started to say, but as he turned, he saw that his best friend wasn't there, and it had been the cat, Ember, who had been laughing at his aquaphobia.

"Where's Tails?" He asked aggressively.

Ember rolled her eyes. "He stayed to fight those bots off. He said he had to catch up with your score."

Sonic sighed angrily and looked up at the precipice. From their height, it was impossible to tell how the battle was being played out. Tails could be drowning in robots right now, and there was nothing Sonic could do about it.

He sighed angrily. Tails was usually a genius, but there were some times…

"Alright. Let's get your Princess back to the castle before the tranquilizer wears off."

A little while later, Sonic and Ember walked through a hilly plain. Ember was still carrying Elise on her shoulder, but she began to look tired. All of a sudden, she shoved Elise off of her shoulder and slumped into the grass.

"I can't go any further… At least not right now…" She gasped when Sonic approached.

Sonic thought of many different ways to respond. He could roll his eyes, leave without her… Instead, he sat in the grass beside the cat.

The trip there had mostly been silent, and despite his anger and irritation at being dragged into an escort and having Tails suddenly deciding to throw any laid-out plans out the window, he was curious about Ember and why she was working for the royal family.

She didn't seem the type to devote her time to watching someone endlessly…

"So…" He started, unsure how to approach a conversation with the cat.

She stretched out. She looked very out of place in the sunny plain, with her dark grey outfit and black hair. "Why were you trying to rescue the Princess?" Ember asked.

"Oh, that's just what I do. Thwart Doctor Eggman's plans for world domination whenever they come up. No biggie."

"So what do you figure your Doctor wanted with the Princess? She's a useless whining bitch."

"I don't know..." Sonic looked at the sky. "If he had been there, he probably would have told us right away before sending some sort of mech after us. And of course, I would destroy it in a few minutes, tops." He paused before realizing how to proceed with his original question. "If Princess Elise is a useless whining bitch, why do you guard her?"

Ember sighed. "It's a long story... And a decision I rather regret, to be honest. Jail would have been much more bearable... Not to mention I could break out. But at least I'm getting this baby for all my troubles." Ember pulled out a dark purple-blue stone on a chain.

"What's that?" Sonic asked.

"It's called the Indigo Crystal. The Soleannan King gave it to me after I swore loyalty. It's only a small comfort, but apparently it has all kinds of hidden powers. Maybe I'll test it when I get to leave my service. Which should be... in a few days, tops."

"A few days?"

"Yeah, when the Princess turns eighteen, I'm free to go. 'Cause of course then she'll get all these squads of personal guards..."

Ember brushed an ant off of her leg, then got up. "You're not half bad, hedgehog. Maybe..." Ember trailed off, but then turned away. "Let's go."

Sonic got up, wondering at what she was about to say.

_Soleanna, September 27, 2011_

"Well, we're here." Sonic took a false bow and swept his hand in the castle's direction. "After you."

Ember looked at him. "You're not coming, are you." It was a statement more than a question, and Sonic knew it.

"Nah, the whole royalty business isn't my thing. I'm gonna go back, see if I can find Tails, and then I'll go see Eggman and give him a piece of my mind."

"Well..." Ember hesitated, but said "Good luck then."

Sonic smiled. "You too, Ember." He then sped off, leaving Ember in front of the castle, still holding Elise.

Only when he was a small distance away did he stop and think about all that had happened that morning.

Or he would have, if he hadn't spotted a chilli dog vendor a little ways away.

"Ha, yes!" He took a step forwards...

Before flying into a wall.

Sonic gasped and turned sharply as soon as he got up.

"I've been looking for you, Iblis Trigger." A silvery hedgehog stood a small distance away. That's all Sonic was able to process before having to dodge out of the way of a flying chair, only to have it swing around again and crack him in the back of the head. Sonic fell, only to get hit again.

But he got up and before his assailant knew what was happening, he had landed a swift kick.

"What the-˝ Sonic couldn't ask his question though.

"You actions will condemn us all!" The other hedgehog cried as he threw a coffee table towards the blue blur.

_You'll have to do better than that._ Sonic thought. He jumped onto the table and spun into the hedgehog.

Sonic could tell a crowd was forming, but he paid them no attention.

He was in attack mode.

Spindash, spin attack, kick...

This guy clearly had no idea who he was up against. Sonic might have felt sorry for the other hedgehog, if he had not been the one who had attacked in the first place.

As he prepared for another kick, the other hedgehog collapsed, defeated.

Sonic stopped and looked at the hedgehog. He had weird quills different to any he had seen before, ever. They looked a bit like a leaf...

Sonic took a step closer.

He noticed the teal markings on his enemy's gloves glow too late.

He felt something trip him, then he crashed into a wall. As he fell, stunned, he just barely raised his arms instinctively...

And caught the table leg ready to impale him. He expected it to lose its teal aura, but to his surprise, it didn't.

As it continued to seek his death, the silvery-gray hedgehog walked closer. Sonic just noticed how bloody his opponent was, and he realized he must have been in as rough shape.

"Is this a joke? How could someone like you cause the destruction of our world?"

Sonic noticed the tiredness in his opponent's voice, but also some of the cockiness. He would have definitely given a good retort, if he hadn't been struggling for his life.

As it was, he just wanted to know what the hedgehog meant by the last part of his phrase. "What... Do you... Mean?" He managed to gasp.

For a second, it looked like the hedgehog was about to relent. His grim expression softened, and Sonic thought he saw doubt in the other hedgehog's face...

"It doesn't matter. For the sake of the future, the Iblis Trigger must be killed!"

Sonic felt the table leg shift and despite his efforts, was now only just managing to keep the table leg away. He knew he wouldn't last much longer like this. He desperately tried to work out a plan...

The table leg suddenly disappeared, but before Sonic could recover, he was thrown into a wall, and then another, and another... Every slam brought a pained gasp from Sonic, and he felt like he was going to pass out...

The silvery-white hedgehog chuckled, but it sounded slightly faded, due to pain. "Like it? Because it's only a taste of what's in store for you."

Sonic didn't have enough strength to resist anymore. As he felt something bind his wrists down and a table leg move down, ready to impale him, he just sighed.

He didn't even know the guy trying to take his life.

What a stupid way to die. He should have been able to take the guy out easily. If only he hadn't hesitated...

Suddenly, he was no longer pinned down! Seeing his faint chance, he grabbed the table leg that had been ready to kill him, tossed it at the silvery hedgehog, and bolted.

He collapsed a short while after bolting, but that didn't matter. He had escaped.

Sonic felt both relieved and frustrated at the same time. On one hand, he was alive, but on the other hand, he was beaten way too easily.

He didn't like getting beaten.

It wouldn't happen next time.

"Sonic!"

"Nygh... What?"

"Seriously Sonic, is going to become a habit? Because I'd rather it didn't..."

"Tails!"

Sonic's attention was brought back. He found that he was lying on the cobblestone road of Soleanna, near a warehouse. Tails was beside him, looking concerned.

"Jeez, every time I turn around, I come back and find you unconscious. Again, this better not become a habit..."

"Oh, there was just some lunatic who attacked me, that's all. Anyways, forget about me, what happened to you?"

"Ah, nothing serious. Those bots were definitely more bark than bite... Their aim was incredibly off. I think Eggman's losing his touch..."

Sonic chuckled. "But we've known that for a long time, haven't we?"

Tails laughed. "True, that. So? What's out next move?"

Sonic paused. "Well," he started, "I'd like to know what Eggman wanted with the Princess, for starters... But it doesn't look like we'll know unless he contacts us..."

"Well, we shouldn't have to wait for long. The Doctor's never failed us before, has he?"

Sonic full out laughed this time. "Nope, he's never been good at keeping secrets..."

Tails laughed too. "So all we have to do is wait..."

"Seems so. Want to go for chilidogs?"

"Sonic... You realize you're bruised almost everywhere and you're bleeding in at least seven places, right?"

"I've faced worse, we both know it. Now come on, one of my life goals is to try a chilidog from every major city in the world. So far, Station Square's is the best of the bunch."

Tails sighed, but he knew his friend would not be dissuaded. The best he could do was go with Sonic to make sure he didn't pass out en route.

"Fine. Tell me about the maniac that attacked you while we get there."

"Sure thing. I was just going over to a chilidog place, and this guy came up..."

"Well then, that is something." Tails thought about this while Sonic ordered two chilidogs. "And you're sure he said 'For the sake of the future'?"

"Yeah." Sonic answered, ready to bite into the first of the chilidogs he ordered. "And the guy's quills! I think he was a lunatic."

Tails gave a quick smile, but it was clear he was thinking. "Do you think he was related to Eggman in any way? I mean, do you think he was on Eggman's orders?"

"Na. Eggman doesn't hire mercenaries. And this guy wasn't a huge fighter, he relied on his powers."

"Telekinesis, you said."

"Yeah, that."

Something about 50 metres away caught Sonic's attention, but he couldn't quite make out what it was.

Tails noticed it too. "What is that?"

It was approaching the pair's table at a moderate speed. As it approached, the two were able to figure out what it was.

It was a tiny black device on treads, with a large red button on top.

It came closer, and finally stopped at Sonic and Tails' feet, then blipped.

Sonic turned to Tails, and the two shrugged at the same time.

Sonic pushed the red button.

"You know that could be- Whoa!"

A beam of light opened from the device, and a holographic video of the team's nemesis played.

_"Hello, Sonic. When you receive this message, I will have kidnapped the Princess of Soleanna for a second time. If you wish to have her released, come to the summit of White Acropolis, where one of my bases is located. I would ask that you come alone, but I know you won't do so. Goodbye!"_

The message ended, and the device, almost comedically, turned around and slowly left.

"Weird way to deliver a message..." Tails commented.

"Does that really matter?"

Sonic and Tails turned.

"Right on time, too. So, you going to save the Princess?"

Ember was standing behind them, looking irritated.

"Yes, that was my plan-"

"Wait, how did she get captured again in the first place? Some bodyguard you are..."

Ember glowered. "I was tased, okay? My armour took most of the shock, but I was... incapacitated for a while."

Sonic smirked. "So, want to come? We were invited anyways, I doubt Eggman will mind us bringing someone else along."

"We're going?" Tails asked.

"Yeah, why not? Tails, it's rude to ignore an invitation."

"But..." Tails decided to not comment.

"So, how are we going to get to the summit of Acropolis?" Sonic asked Ember.

The grey cat smiled. "I have an idea."

Only when Ember was searching through the imperial vault and was beyond hearing range did Tails ask the question he had been pondering.

"Why do you want to save the Princess? She's a total-"

"It's not about the Princess." Sonic said automatically.

Only to regret having said it.

"What do you mean, 'it's not about the Princess?' What's it about then?"

"It's...It's..." Sonic was at a loss for words.

Understanding suddenly dawned on Tails. "It's about-"

"Found it!" Ember came out of the vault, carrying three small pearls.

"These are all that are left... But they'll do one-way."

Tails took one and immediately examined it. "What is it?"

"They're called Voyagers. Basically, they'll transport you anywhere you need to go. But they're rare finds; I'm surprised there were three."

"Very convenient." Sonic said to Tails, his voice laced with sarcasm. Tails chuckled, but returned to seriousness very quickly.

"How do they work?"

"Umm... I seem to remember that you have to picture a very precise location, then you step forward... Damn, I'm gonna get in so much trouble for taking these..."

Sonic just looked at Ember and said; "We can deal with that when we get back." Ignoring Tails' look of disbelief when he said "We".

Ember smiled again, albeit briefly. "Okay then. Shall we go?"

Sonic took the second pearl. "Alright, see ya."

He took a step forward...

_White Acropolis, September 27, 2011_

Sonic landed up to his waist in snow.

He spindashed and cleared it away, only to find he was alone.

"Tails? Ember?"

At first, there was no response...

Suddenly, a loud crack was heard, and Tails stood beside him, looking horribly dizzy.

"Oh God..." Tails flopped into the snow.

Another crack was suddenly heard, and Ember fell...

Right on top of Sonic.

"Oh my God, sorry." Ember got off of Sonic, apologizing, but suddenly stiffened.

"Ahem, well, anyways, does anyone know where this base is exactly?"

Meanwhile, Tails had gotten up, looking considerably less dizzy. He grabbed a mini-computer he somehow had been keeping on his person.

"I... I just..." He struggled at first. "I just need to measure the electricity use in this area, and with that, we should just need to go to the point with the highest reading."

"Count on Tails to figure it out." Sonic said.

He observed the area. It was covered by a blanket of snow and cloud, and the air smelled like pine trees.

Pretty typical for a mountain.

"Found it!" Tails said excitedly. "Just a few kilometres from here, there's ridiculous electricity readings. It's definitely not natural."

"Nice job, Tails." Sonic said, ruffling Tails' fur on his head. Tails beamed with pride. He might not have been a little kid anymore, but the praise of his hero and friend was still enough to make him happy instantly.

"Shall we go then? Just point the direction." Ember said. She seemed impatient.

But that was no different than usual.

"Three kilometres down."

Ember smacked Sonic in the shoulder.

"Race you."

Before Sonic could respond, Ember was already racing down the mountain at full speed.

Sonic laughed. "She's totally gonna lose."

And raced after her.

Despite Sonic's speed and certainty of catching up to the gray cat, it took him about ten minutes to finally catch up to Ember.

Sonic was incredulous."How did you get so far ahead?"

"Trade secret." Ember said teasingly.

Sonic noticed her streak was purple, but he didn't comment on it. He guessed that it changed colour according to her powers.

He took a chance.

"Isn't it kinda dangerous to have streaks that change colour depending on your powers?"

Ember turned, surprised. "How did you know?"

"It's not exactly hard to figure it out. Give me some credit. I mean, seriously, you only use any fire powers when your streaks are red-orange, it's not exactly discreet."

"Maybe not, but you're still the only person to have noticed before... Maybe because most people who see me switching don't survive... Yeah, it must be that."

Sonic wasn't intimidated by the concealed threat. He didn't even think it was really serious. This was confirmed when Ember winked at him and continued to run.

Sonic could have easily beaten her now, but he didn't.

He wanted to talk to her.

"What did you do before your bodyguard job?"

Ember didn't reply for a few seconds. She then said; "It's a long story... Mostly mercenary work for a friend of mine. I owed him a lot..."

"Why?" Sonic asked before thinking. As soon as he asked it, he wanted to take it back.

Ember looked down, an expression of pain on her face. "There was a civil war where I grew up. He... He helped me escape as soon as he found me. Though he found me only after..."

Ember trailed off and didn't speak.

Sonic didn't ask after what.

"Hey, we've got company."

Ember looked up.

There were at least fifty robotic sentries stationed around a massive stone wall.

They both stopped.

"How are we gonna get it there?" Ember asked.

"Don't sweat that. I have a plan. Worry about... Taking out more than I do!" With that, Sonic jumped, curled into a ball, and homing attacked a first sentry.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ember send out some kind of purple energy bolt. Not bad...

But he was better.

At least, he thought so.

He spun from one robot to another, their metal shells crumpling as Sonic's speed became an unstoppable force, ripping through them as if they didn't exist.

"Five!" He called out.

"Seven!" Ember called back.

"What?" He turned in surprise and was almost struck by a bullet.

He turned back around. "Watch where you're pointing that thing!" He yelled sarcastically, and spindashed into the closest robot.

The guard was quickly being reduced to scrap metal. Bullets were being fired everywhere, and in the confusion many struck other bots.

Soon, there was just one robot left. Seeing that it was alone, it tried to bolt.

Sonic caught up to it easily, was about to Homing Attack it...

A fireball severed its head from its shoulders.

Sonic landed on the ground. "That was mine!" He protested, as Ember calmly walked towards the robot, the streaks in her hair a flamboyant red-orange.

"Not until you kill it, it isn't. Anyways, how many?"

"Twenty-six."

"Thirty. I guess I win..."

"Nope!"

Both Sonic and Ember turned around.

"I got fifty-three. I win."

Sonic laughed. "See, I told you I had a plan."

Tails laughed too. "Yeah, I flew over the wall and destroyed everything in there, so we have a clear shot at Eggman!"

Ember actually looked impressed. "Well done... You sure you got everything?"

Tails looked down. "Well... Maybe there's some..."

"Then I've gotta catch up, don't I?" Ember ran through the door Tails' had opened, searching for stragglers.

Tails looked at Sonic, who just shrugged.

"She's pretty cool."

After finding Ember, who hadn't managed to beat Tails' score, the trio penetrated Eggman's base, where either the same or a similar robot to the one that had delivered Eggman's message led them to an odd circular room made of concrete.

"And you're sure this isn't a trap?" Ember asked Sonic, who shrugged.

"I've handled Eggman's traps before, no problem."

"You didn't answer my question." Ember pointed out.

"That's because I don't know. In fact, it probably is a trap."

"Wonderful." Ember rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

Suddenly, a bright light shone on them.

"Yep, it's a trap." Sonic confirmed.

"Ohohohohoho! Welcome, Sonic. You're late."

"Yeah, well we had to deal with your reception." Sonic said. "Now what do you want?" While Tails said "And since when was there a scheduled time?"

Doctor Eggman was standing on a large platform, metres and metres above.

"Well, I have what I want, Sonic. You seem to be too late. I have the Princess of Soleanna, and with her, her heirloom, which I shall use to control time itself!"

While Tails gasped, Sonic looked bored, examining his fingers.

"So... Why did you even ask us here? Was it just to gloat?"

"Obviously not. I'd like you to witness my first experiment... My test, without the Princess's jewel."

As soon as he said the last word, the hum of machines starting filled the room.

"Knew it." Ember said, while Tails immediately flew up, a bomb in hand...

Only to be knocked down by a massive energy charge that quickly formed a cage around the trio.

Ember reacted first, her streaks turning purple, she charged some kind of energy around her fist and smashed the wall...

...Only to be thrown back rather violently.

"Shit!" She yelled.

"Don't bother. It is too powerful for _you _people to overcome. Now for a proper introduction to my latest invention, the Soleanna Prototype. With it, I shall control time itself!"

The hum became much louder, to the point where the trio had to cover their ears, and Eggman had to yell to be heard over it.

"Without the jewel, I am not able to control where I send you... All the better for not being found! So long!"

The hum was now closer to a roar. A whiteish blue light surrounded them...

No one remained in the room.

The energy cage disappeared, and the Doctor's platform slowly lowered to the ground. He was ecstatic, a mix of the success of his creation and the loss of his nemesis making him so happy even his moustache bristled in excitement.

"Ohohohohohoho... Ahahahaha! Yes! Finally rid of them! Now, with the power of more Chaos Emeralds..."


End file.
